DOT drags its heels on fix for a perilous Staten Island intersection

Staten Island Advance/Bill LyonsTraffic waits at a red arrow on Hylan Boulevard at Cromwell Avenue, Dongan Hills. The city DOT is supposed to install a similar arrow at Hylan Boulevard and Steuben Street, Grasmere.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Three people have died recently and dozens have been sent to the hospital.

But the city Department of Transportation has yet to implement a solution at a dangerous Grasmere intersection where some report seeing accidents on a weekly basis.

Most recently, 82-year-old Mary Toppino of Midland Beach died Saturday night after the car she was riding in was turning left from Hylan Boulevard onto Steuben Street when it collided with another car.

The wide left turn has also been blamed for the deaths of 21-year-old Fayad Madwa, who was ejected in a two-car crash on Aug. 8, and 25-year-old Brian Guariglia, who was killed when his Kawasaki sports bike collided with a car on June 22, 2009.

With people rushing down Hylan Boulevard, it’s a tough turn to make, said Dominick DeRubbio, who heads the newly founded Staten Island Traffic Safety Council, a citizens group that has been tracking dangerous intersections across the borough.

“It’s a recipe for disaster,” he said. “This is something that needs to be dealt with right away.”

The DOT has said it plans to install a red-arrow traffic light at bridge-bound Hylan Boulevard for cars turning northbound along Steuben Street, barring left turns unless a green arrow is lit, but a timeline has yet to be provided.

The best DOT spokeswoman Nicole Garcia could manage was “soon.”

“This plan would entail lane, signalization, signal timing, marking, curb regulation and sign changes to accommodate all traffic movements, details we will discuss with local officials soon to make this location as safe as it can be,” she said.

“Soon” isn’t enough for City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), who has spent two years advocating that the agency take action.

“It is beyond frustrating,” he said. “How many deaths must it take to go out there and actually do something?”

“The borough president and I met with DOT at that site and they told us a study would be complete at the end of the summer,” he added. “They could have put up a red light in August, September, October and now November. Where is the sense of urgency?”

Once the light is installed, borough residents are certain it would be a good fix.

Already, it has worked out well at intersections surrounding the Staten Island Mall, along with Richmond Avenue and Amboy Road, and Hylan Boulevard and Cromwell Avenue.

Donna Brandefine, owner of Brandy’s Dance Unique, said she sent petitions demanding a red-arrow light at the corner of Hylan and Cromwell after watching accidents occur at the intersection weekly for the 15 years the studio had been there.

The last straws were when cars crashed into the dance studio on two separate occasions. The light was finally installed after two years of requests.

“It was a very bad corner,” she said. “But since I’ve gotten that light, not one accident has taken place. Not one. Now it’s perfect.”

Still, Ms. Brandefine criticized the DOT for not responding to her requests sooner.